Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine

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Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine
Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine at Fusion Festival 2010
Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine at Fusion Festival 2010
General information
origin San Francisco , United States
Genre (s) Punk , hardcore punk
founding 2008
Founding members
Jello Biafra
Ralph Spight
guitar
 Kimo Ball
Billy Gould (until 2011)
Jon Weiss (until 2012)
Current occupation
singing
 Jello Biafra
guitar
 Ralph Spight
guitar
 Kimo Ball
bass
 Andrew Weiss (since 2011)
Drums
 Paul Della Pelle (since 2012)

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine is a US punk band, the band leader is Jello Biafra . The albums appear under the label Alternative Tentacles , which was also founded and is managed by Jello Biafra. The band performs internationally.

Band history

After the Dead Kennedys ended , Jello Biafra remained active as a singer. But he no longer had a real band, but dedicated himself to a number of projects such as Lard and recorded albums with different bands such as DOA and NoMeansNo and most recently with The Melvins . In 2008 he formed The Guantanamo School of Medicine as the first permanent band since the end of the Dead Kennedys. The inspiration came from a gig by Iggy Pop , who gave a major concert in his hometown of San Francisco on his 60th birthday . The first line-up included Ralph Spight (guitar, Victims Family ), Billy Gould (bass, Faith No More ) and Jon Weiss (drums). At first the band was called Jello Biafra and The Axis of Merry Evildoers. Shortly thereafter, the name changes to Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine. With Kimo Ball ( Freak Accident ) a second guitarist joined the band. In October 2009 the first studio album, The Audacity of Hype, was released on Biafra's own label Alternative Tentacles. Since Faith No More was founded in the same year, Billy Gould could not participate in the following tour and was replaced by Andrew Weiss ( Rollins Band ).

In 2011 the second album Enhanced Methods of Questioning followed . It is the last album with Billy Gould, who was then replaced by his substitute. A concert in Tel Aviv was announced for 2011 . An international initiative was founded to protest this decision and started a petition . In an open letter, she asked Biafra to cancel the performance. In fact, Biafra subsequently canceled the gig, but justified itself and denied all allegations of defending Israel's policies with such a gig or opposing the Palestinians .

In 2012 the band released the extended play SHOCK-U-PY! , a tribute to the Occupy movement . It was the first release with the new drummer Paul Della Pelle.

The last album so far, White People and the Damage Done, followed in 2013 . The album is to be understood as a concept album and attacks US politics of austerity .

Music genre

As with the Dead Kennedys, the music of Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine is "black-humored political punk with satirical attacks on the American way of life, totalitarian tendencies and social inequality". Musically, the band remains largely true to US punk in the style of MC5 , Iggy & the Stooges and Radio Birdman , especially on the first album . There are far more Metal influences to be found on Enhanced Methods of Questioning . there is also an experimental hidden track on the album. This includes a 18-minute spoken-word performance , over a noise - Blues was laid -Track. The third album White People and the Damage Done is much more hardcore and reminds of the early Dead Kennedys and Black Flag .

In terms of text, Jello Biafra, who appears as the main copywriter, deals with current political issues and writes about them from a left to radical left perspective. He attacks US President George W. Bush and his successor Barack Obama and criticizes capitalism. As a supporter of the Green Party , he also sings about environmental issues. In particular, he criticizes the US dependence on oil. Biafra uses irony and black humor to get its points across.

Discography

Albums

  • 2009: The Audacity of Hype
  • 2011: Enhanced Methods of Questioning
  • 2013: White People and the Damage Done

Singles / EPs

  • 2011: Enhanced Methods of Questioning
  • 2012: SHOCK-U-PY!

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tour dates on livegigs.de
  2. ↑ Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine at laut.de
  3. ^ Apartheid is no place for punk. Socialistworker.org, June 21, 2011, accessed August 18, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Jello Biafra Cancels Tel Aviv Gig !!! Punks Against Apartheid, June 29, 2011, accessed August 18, 2015 .
  5. ↑ JELLO BIAFRA And THE GUANTANAMO SCHOOL OF MEDICINE Release 'Shock-U-Py!' Song. Blabbermouth , July 21, 2013, accessed August 18, 2015 .
  6. ↑ a b Joachim Hiller: JELLO BIAFRA & THE GUANTANAMO SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Taxes for the rich . In: Ox-Fanzine . No. 107 (April / May), 2013 ( ox-fanzine.de ).
  7. ↑ a b Black humor sounds on derStandard.at (on August 16, 2013)
  8. ↑ The Audacity of Hype at Allmusic (English). Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  9. ^ Enhanced Methods of Questioning at Allmusic (English). Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  10. ↑ White People and the Damage Done at Allmusic (English). Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  11. ↑ Stefan Behr: Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine: Tanz den Pol Pot. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . August 26, 2013, accessed August 18, 2015 .